re: Ever knew anyone that cut their self on purpose?Posted by ZTiger87 on 12/3/12 at 8:37 pm to BowDownToLSU

Had an ex gf do this when I floated the idea of us breaking up. She had no past history of craziness, so this really took me by surprise and freaked me out. We stayed together for another 6 months before we both agreed to break up Had another girl try and OD on pills when I broke up with her. I guess I'm attracted to crazy womens.

quote:I still don't fully understand how this "releases" pain or stress.

They do it to take their mind off of whatever is causing them stress or sadness. At least that is what I was told by this really unstable girl I used to talk to.

The problem today with self-mutilation and scarification is that it is done without any knowledge or understanding of the deeper concepts behind the practice. There is an art to the practice and deep psychological and metaphysical ramifications, and emof@gs doing It for attention have no clue about the real purposes of body modification

re: Ever knew anyone that cut their self on purpose?Posted by Hulkklogan on 12/3/12 at 9:09 pm to BowDownToLSU

Some chick in my extended family does. She's fat and ugly but very sweet.. but she does the whole emo/goth look and is always depressed cuts herself and all of that. Her family is pretty well off.. typical "woe is me" syndrome from upper middle class emo white kids

re: Ever knew anyone that cut their self on purpose?Posted by ArRazElle on 12/3/12 at 9:16 pm to fr33manator

quote:The problem today with self-mutilation and scarification is that it is done without any knowledge or understanding of the deeper concepts behind the practice. There is an art to the practice and deep psychological and metaphysical ramifications, and emof@gs doing It for attention have no clue about the real purposes of body modification

I don't understand. There is an art to this? I thought emotionally/psychologically disturbed individuals did this because they associated it with an escape from stressors?

re: Ever knew anyone that cut their self on purpose?Posted by fr33manator on 12/3/12 at 9:19 pm to ArRazElle

The (mostly lost) art of body modification is as old as man himself. To brand himself with indelible markers, to his tribe, to the gods, to commemorate some great conquest or defeat, there is indeed an art. After all, in the end, all we have are scars and memories.

It's one of the diagnostic criteria for Borderline Personality Disorder. Don't wanna go all "tl, dr" on the subject; books have been written on how difficult it is to explain, diagnose, treat, and deal with- both for sufferers and the people in their lives.

Probably the only mental illness that's "contagious", because it will drive the people around the victim crazy while they're insisting there's nothing wrong with them. 10% chance of suicide, so he needs help even if insisting he is fine.

re: Ever knew anyone that cut their self on purpose?Posted by LucasP on 12/4/12 at 8:07 am to BowDownToLSU

You should definitely take the Billy Madison approach and cut yourself too. Then when people ask just say "Cutting yourself is the coolest, you're not cool until you cut your wrist". Then everyone will do it and he won't feel like a loner.

re: Ever knew anyone that cut their self on purpose?Posted by Doldil on 12/4/12 at 8:39 am to BowDownToLSU

a girl I knew used to do this. She always had on a shite ton of bracelets/hairbands etc on her wrist area/lower arm, so one day I ask her to uncover it and I saw all the shite from where she was cutting. It freaked me out and I really didn't talk to her much after that. She was a nice enough girl, but that was just creepy.

re: Ever knew anyone that cut their self on purpose?Posted by Tom288 on 12/4/12 at 8:48 am to BowDownToLSU

quote:I'm a warehouse supervisor (OT poor) and I have a young guy (20) that works for me.This young man is "off" a little. He rarely talks to anyone the first couple of hours and when he does he makes up all kind of crazy stories.He came to work wearing a long sleeve shirt today, he never wears them even when it's really cold. I kept asking him why and he rolls his sleeve up and told me he slashed it(wrist) this weekend(looked invected). He had showed me other cuts he had on him before but said he done it when he was young. I had worked with his aunt before and we (my boss and I) called her. She told me that he thinks that no one likes him.He is hard to get along with but I feel sorry for the kid. I told her he really needed to get some type of help and she said she would get him some...have any of you ever known anyone to cut their self on purpose?

I've done it. It's a very severe form of a coping strategy. Think of someone with a broken finger and setting it. Setting it hurts like hell, but you ultimately do it to not only fix the injury but, and in this case more importantly, take your mind off of the other pain.

If he's struggling with depression or another mental disorder the pain can be so severe that any other type of pain, no matter how severe, actually makes you feel better. Not only because of the endorphins, but it literally helps to feel a different type of pain.

With that said, even serious cases of self-harm are rarely indicative of suicidal thoughts and, especially, plans. Most often it's a case of someone who has reached the end of the list of "normal" coping strategies and is therefore willing to do extreme things, even cause themselves harm, in order to cope with the pain.

From what you've posted I wouldn't consider him to be a serious threat to himself or others, but he definitely needs to seek professional help. A psychiatrist definitely and if at all possible some kind of therapist. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is also good at dealing with this sort of thing. The most important thing you can do is not come across as judgmental, you're not dealing with a "crazy" person, just someone that needs help. Since you know his aunt I would take that opportunity to really push for her to make sure he gets some kind of help.

re: Ever knew anyone that cut their self on purpose?Posted by Tom288 on 12/4/12 at 8:51 am to fr33manator

quote:The problem today with self-mutilation and scarification is that it is done without any knowledge or understanding of the deeper concepts behind the practice. There is an art to the practice and deep psychological and metaphysical ramifications, and emof@gs doing It for attention have no clue about the real purposes of body modification

This is also true, and the one's that turn up with "cat scratches" on easily seen body parts, like forearms, aren't the ones to worry about. It's the people that are really suffering and keeping it to themselves, cutting their upper arms, abdomen, legs...spots easy to conceal. They're not emos and not doing it for attention, and they need help.

re: Ever knew anyone that cut their self on purpose?Posted by lsutiggs on 12/4/12 at 10:29 am to hardhead

That's classic Borderline Personality Disorder. My ex-wife had that, at least from my experience. These people will suck the life out of you as they are not good in relationships. Stay far away from people like that.